Holidays - Part 1

So here we are on Thanksgiving Eve. The WEBS team is off to their respective celebrations - sorry we didn't get everyone out earlier!

Last night, Steve, the boys and I watched the classic - Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. I grew up watching the Peanuts holiday series. I love them all. I love that my children love them and feel the same excitement watching them with the boys, the thrill of getting to stay up a bit late. . . it's a tradition.

I love the holidays - every last thing about them. I always have. I love that this special time of year has been enhanced by adding Hanukkah to the mix. From now until New Year's is a magical time at our house. I'll share more of this as we work our way through the next few weeks, but right now, it's turkey time!

(Happy 7th Birthday Jacob!)

We keep Thanksgiving simple. My family doesn't come - they are two hours away and well, we work retail. We are open the day before and after Thanksgiving. I think they got tired of being "moved" in and out a bit briskly. It's all good. We're a pretty practical group. So tomorrow we'll celebrate with the boys and "B and Grandpa" and have a lovely meal. What more could 4 1/2 people want than a 17 lb turkey, four veggies, stuffing, gravy, appetizers, salad and dessert? If you don't hear from us on Friday, we're just comatose at our house - send help!

It's been a funny year here at WEBS and for the Elkins Family. The year has been on fast forward since January. I've blogged about it and talked about it on our podcast, Ready, Set, Knit!. I'm still feeling that we're somewhere around late August or so, but the calendar tells me to cook a turkey, so I will oblige. It's also been a really good year and we have so very much to be thankful for.

It's also been a tough three weeks for us. At the end of October we lost someone we considered a friend and important business associate. She was killed in a car accident on her way to work. It is a a tremendous loss on so many levels, but especially for her husband and two teenage daughters. Then, just last week, we found out one of the owners of the family run office supply store next door to us had passed away unexpectedly after a long battle with cancer. Again, someone who had been nothing but helpful and supportive of us, with two teenage daughters and a wonderful wife. Two amazing, vibrant people gone in the blink of an eye. Yeah, we've got a lot to be thankful for and a lot of sadness to process. As we enjoy tomorrow and celebrate, our thoughts will be with both of these families.

We are thankful so much and without getting completely mushy, I do have to say "thanks" to all of you who take time to read this blog -as erratic as it is, for listening to the podcast and for shopping with us, be it in the store or on-line. We don't take any of it for granted. We are grateful that you choose to shop with us, listen to us, read what we have to say. We know how crazy life is and that choices have to made, priorities set. The simple fact that we are included in your life is something that we truly appreciate.

We hope that each of you enjoy your day/weekend. Whatever your traditions are.

With that, I will ask, what do you cherish about Thanksgiving and what are you thankful for this year? Also, what are you knitting/crocheting as you work your way through the next few days? Personally, I've got a special crochet project in the works. I just hope I can get it done in time!

You will find that these will be recurring questions over the next few weeks. For those of you who receive our holiday catalog, you'll see that our staff was kind enough to share some of their holiday memories with all of you and I'll also try to share what they are working (in general) for the holidays.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kathy